285/75/16s on a K3500?

[a5150nut]

Anybody running them?

If so, what did you have to do about spacing between rear wheels?

Any gearing changes?

Wheel well flairs?

[CoyleJR]

a5150nut,
I replaced the original 215/85/16 tires with 235/85/16 tires and had a clearance problem with the duals. There was enough clearance between the duals when the truck was empty but as soon as I hooked up to my 38' 5th wheel the rear tires rubbed each other badly. I had to install 1/4" spacers between the rear wheels and run the air pressure five pounds over the max recommended by the tire manufacturer. That still only gave me about a 1/6" clearance on level ground and on turns/rough roads the tires rubbed each other because they were always shiny between them. The tires were great tires (Cooper ATR, made in USA) and they lasted 58k miles. I did eventually convert the truck from 16" to 19.5" tires and I now have a lot of tire clearance between the duals.

If you install to tall of a tire it could change the gear ratio enough that you will cause a strain on the Allison when towing and you could force a limp mode by the transmission to save itself. Additionally, don't buy made in China (MIC) tires. I have had five fail during my travels and when I went with made in America my tire problems stopped.

Your new truck looks great and I hope you get as good of service from your 06 as I have from my 06 (200k miles soon).

Good luck
John.

[a5150nut]

a5150nut,
I replaced the original 215/85/16 tires with 235/85/16 tires and had a clearance problem with the duals. There was enough clearance between the duals when the truck was empty but as soon as I hooked up to my 38' 5th wheel the rear tires rubbed each other badly. I had to install 1/4" spacers between the rear wheels and run the air pressure five pounds over the max recommended by the tire manufacturer. That still only gave me about a 1/6" clearance on level ground and on turns/rough roads the tires rubbed each other because they were always shiny between them. The tires were great tires (Cooper ATR, made in USA) and they lasted 58k miles. I did eventually convert the truck from 16" to 19.5" tires and I now have a lot of tire clearance between the duals.

If you install to tall of a tire it could change the gear ratio enough that you will cause a strain on the Allison when towing and you could force a limp mode by the transmission to save itself. Additionally, don't buy made in China (MIC) tires. I have had five fail during my travels and when I went with made in America my tire problems stopped.

Your new truck looks great and I hope you get as good of service from your 06 as I have from my 06 (200k miles soon).

Good luck
John.

Thanks for your input John. I have 4 almost new Michilin MS2s that I was trying to reuse. I have 4 Cooper 235s on my fith wheel with only about 300 miles on them but they are 14 years old so my first thought was use the MS2s on my trailer.

Figured on a gear change if used on the K3500. It does so well with the tires on it now 74 mph at 1900 rpm. But they are the original tires that came on the truck and that makes them 8 years old and 20k on them.

So I guess the other option is replace 10 tires. Wounder if I can get a group discount? :D

Retired to cut down on how many decision I had to make every day. Oh well the boss is better looking!